Kraken – Cryptocurrency Exchange Volume and Information

Founded in 2011, San Francisco-based Kraken is the largest Bitcoin exchange in euro volume and liquidity and also trading Canadian dollars, US dollars, British pounds and Japanese yen. Kraken is consistently rated the best and most secure Bitcoin exchange by independent news media. 

Kraken gives you the power to hit the ground running, no matter your experience level. An intuitive experience from the start. From day one, we designed and built a streamlined bitcoin exchange for newcomers and experts alike. Make easy deposits and withdrawals, measure your portfolio's performance and keep track of all of your digital assets in one convenient place.

Kraken is the most trusted cryptocurrency exchange on the market

Earning the trust of our clients has always been our highest priority. We earn that trust through the best security in the business — most of our digital assets are held safely in cold wallets so bad actors can't reach it. Kraken platform provides world class financial stability by maintaining full reserves, healthy banking relationships and the highest standards of legal compliance.

Kraken was the first Bitcoin exchange to have trading price and volume displayed on the Bloomberg Terminal, the first to pass a cryptographically verifiable proof-of-reserves audit, and is a partner in the first cryptocurrency bank. Kraken is trusted by hundreds of thousands of traders, the Tokyo government's court-appointed trustee, and Germany's BaFin regulated Fidor Bank.

The best bitcoin exchange is needed for serious and professional bitcoin traders. Bitcoin security must be impeccable. Banking relationships must be sound and reliable. The trading engine must be fast. Order types must be advanced. And profits must be able to be multiplied with Bitcoin margin trading so you can leverage long bitcoin positions or short bitcoin positions.

Kraken, headquartered in San Francisco, California, claims to be the largest Bitcoin exchange in terms of euro volume and liquidity. In the following post, I will review the exchange, its different services, and the customer opinion about it.

It’s possible to open an account on Kraken and trade cryptocurrencies without undergoing KYC or AML. However, the withdrawal limits on such accounts are low and it’s not possible to deposit or withdraw Fiat without a KYC verified account. Anyone wishing to trade futures contracts will also need to undergo a KYC verification.

Kraken Services 

Kraken offers its customers an advanced trading platform that includes spot and margin trading for more experienced users. Kraken’s interface offers plenty of options, but it isn’t the most beginner friendly—something to consider if you’re new to cryptocurrency. For high volume trades (over $100K) Kraken offers Over The Counter (OTC) services with a 1-on -1 service.

Additionally, frequent high volume traders can receive a dedicated account manager to take care of their trading needs. Kraken also offers a dark pool – an order book not visible to the rest of the market. Each trader only knows their own orders. Traders can anonymously place large buy or sell orders without revealing their interest to other traders.

Typically, outsized orders, when seen by other traders will cause the market to move unfavorably, making it more difficult to fill the order at the desired price. This unfavorable price movement may be avoided in a dark pool. Finally, Kraken also provides a staking service that allows users to earn a return on assets that would be otherwise held and unused by its users.

Due to its regulatory compliance and American headquarters, Kraken is a good option for professional traders and institutional investors. Also, since Kraken offers more advanced features like margin and futures, this furthers its appeal to more sophisticated traders.

Kraken’s trading fees are somewhat below average and they begin to drop quickly once a trader starts doing more than $50,000 a month in volume. Overall Kraken is a good platform for American traders or organizations which want to be fully compliant and also execute hundreds of trades a month.

Supported Countries

All American residents can use Kraken, save for those in New York and Washington state. In terms of international customers, there are restrictions on all of the typical countries. Citizens of the following countries cannot use Kraken: Afghanistan, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Japan, North Korea and Tajikistan.

Kraken does not possess New York's infamous 'Bitlicense' so they cannot serve New York clients

It’s interesting that Japanese traders are not allowed to use Kraken as Japan has a thriving cryptocurrency sector and favorable regulations in place to support it. Nonetheless, Kraken is actually very liberal in its policy towards international customers and a majority of the world’s citizens can use Kraken.